News & Updates

Cooperation Eugene stands in solidarity with our community members of color as the tragedy of the murder of another black man at the hands of white police officers once again dredges up the accumulated pain of hundreds of years of mistreatment and inequality. We need meaningful change and healing, and we need it now!

It has been a challenging time for organizations working to find a balance between keeping society functioning and keeping people healthy as the pandemic rages on. We truly appreciate the time and energy of everyone who has come together to keep this effort moving forward!

We must all be vigilant during times like this to ensure that important gains we have made as a society are not eroded by government and industry looking to exploit current circumstances, as well as keeping our eyes out for opportunities to make progress on creating a more just and compassionate economy for all.

We continue to host our informative Study Circles each month to help educate ourselves. We read about and discussed worker cooperatives at one recent meeting as well as working on gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of the commons in another. For our July meeting we will be doing a deep dive into the meaning of democracy.

After a couple Zoom gatherings with the LSSN time bank community we finally met up in person at a park last week on a beautifully sunny day. It was great to see people’s faces again in person, albeit from a safe distance! Inspired by the pandemic we have decided to switch to having picnics instead of potlucks for any in-person gatherings going forward.

And a surprise occurrence that came out of the need for most communication to move online is that we have started helping a few other groups who have related causes host their meetings online using Zoom. It is inspiring to see folks coming together to help each other out during this crisis.

Hopefully this newsletter finds you all in good health and out enjoying the nice weather we’ve been having lately! Here’s what’s coming up on the CE calendar:

Economic DemocracyCooperation Eugene is recruiting a team to organize a Regenerative Futures Summit. We want to bring together the many amazing projects in Eugene that are building new models to meet basic needs locally and build community wealth. How can we cross-pollinate silos and scale up community based systems?

If you are a systems thinker and want a project that you can dig into, or if you want to help out organizing community conversations, or if you do research or make info-graphics, we could use your help! Figure more or less one meeting for 2 hours a week plus individual projects or team work. We are learning while doing and welcome your voice. Email Clare at: clarestrawn [at] gmail [dot] com or call: 541-285-4504.

Study CircleOur next meeting will be on April 7th. Check the Study Circle webpage soon for more details.

Lane Service Sharing Network PotluckWant to live in a world that is beyond work that is unfulfilling? Where we can meet each other’s needs and get ours met as well? This is the first step. We will share food and share the gifts and talents we would like to share, and the needs and wants we would love our community to help with. The meeting of real needs forms a different kind of community. Come share!

A big thanks to
everyone who gathered for the first Collaboration Circle! It was very
informative to hear more about what people and groups in our local
community are working on, as well as what we are most interested in and
concerned about. We had the opportunity to hear about the tiny house
cooperative Emerald Village, which is an innovative example of a group
working together with the community to create an affordable housing
solution. Housing affordability emerged as the dominant theme of the
evening.

We are looking forward
to making this meeting a monthly event and an opportunity to have a
community round-table where we can work to build a living network that
connects individuals and groups that are focused on regenerative
solutions to democratize our local economy. Let’s work together to
increase collaboration and break down the silos that separate us! The
next meeting will be at Emerald Village Community Room, 25 N. Polk at
Railroad Ave (please park on Polk or in the lot across Polk from Emerald
Village), 7pm Thursday January 9th, and we look forward to seeing you!

Study Circle January Event

We expect an interesting, real-world discussion this month.
Cooperation Eugene is planning to host an economic democracy summit
toward the end of 2020. This is a forum in which leaders from around
Eugene from various sectors are invited to a discussion where we pose
that the problems we all face are from a single underlying cause and the
solutions lie in our ability to understand this and unite.

Poughkeepsie, NY, held a summit similar to this and wrote up a PDF how-to document which you will find here.
The Study Circle discussion will consider how we can create a Eugene
version of that project. Please read it sooner rather than later because
you may wish to come to this one even if you’ve not attended
previously, or invite someone you know who would be interested!

LSSN is already making strides to demonstrate that a more friendly and community oriented economy is possible. We look forward to continuing to grow our sharing community in the new year. Please join us!

We’ve set a date for the first monthly Cooperation Eugene Collaboration Circle meeting and you are invited! Thursday November 14th from 7-8:30pm at Emerald Village Community Room, 25 N. Polk at Railroad Ave (please park on Polk or in the lot across Polk from Emerald Village).

The agenda will include a brief introduction about what the regenerative economy might look like in Eugene and watch a brief video by Ujima, a new economy organization that is making waves in Boston. We will also make space for all comers to share their related project ideas looking for collaboration.

We
have a couple exciting new projects that are in the early stages of
development which we will discuss in more detail at the meeting as well:

The first is a Micro Grants program to support projects that are aligned with the mission and aims of our organization. How do we make these decisions? What criteria do you recommend? If these funds were available, do you have a project that needs funding?

Also,
we are planning an Economic Democracy Summit that will bring
regenerative economy thought leaders together with local key
stakeholders and community members to forge new approaches to rebuilding
the commons based on successful models in place elsewhere.

The
vision for the Collaboration Circle is that it will create
opportunities for greater community involvement that are well suited to
newcomers and those with busier schedules. We’d like for it become a
place where existing projects collaborate, new projects form, and people
go to find out more about opportunities. We see it as a place where collaborative outreach events get organized, and community experts join us to lend their advice. We are also looking forward to seeing
what ideas you have to contribute!

Over 300 people enjoyed the Community Resilience Festival on Aug 24th! They browsed, tabled, heard about solutions for resilience from speakers, and collaborated on ideas for community action such as a local food system network.

If you weren’t able to make it but are interested in seeing some of what happened you can watch video that has graciously been taken and made available by Todd Boyle. See our own Clare Strawn presenting on creating a regenerative and resilient local economy!

We are co-hosting an event on Saturday, August 24, 2019. 10:30 AM to 5 PM at the River Road Recreation Center, 1400 Lake Drive!

The Community Resilience Festival is a day long event that will be fun, educational and timely. Its all about reducing our ecological footprints and building positive community culture. The event will show and tell projects, actions, allies and assets we have in Eugene and the southern Willamette Valley for creating more green and resilient homes, lifestyles, city and region.

We had a great Open Space event on the 8th with group participants coming forward with areas of interest they wanted to discuss. We broke out into groups and had a number of good conversations. It was nice to see new faces in the circle and to benefit from all the perspectives that were shared. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Join Us For an Asset-Mapping Open-Space Exercise and Snack Potluck on June 8th

What does a Regenerative Economy ecosystem look like? As we foment new & regenerative economics in Eugene, what assets do we want to know about and connect with? Cooperation Eugene is developing an online directory of resources that are currently in place locally with the intention to help build networks of community. You can check out the initial database here.

Are you a knowledge holder of community activity in a specific area
of interest (EG: food systems, permaculture, education, housing,
cooperatives, economic development, cultural work, healing, legal and
financial expertise, funds)? You are especially invited to contribute to
this asset-mapping project! Your participation in this Open Space
meeting is valuable and there will be other opportunities to continue
working on this project.

After a brief introduction to Cooperation Eugene, and to
asset-mapping in this context, the space will be opened to generate
clusters of interest. We will then break into groups to talk about the
topics that interest us most. Notes will be taken, including assets the
groups mention that could be added to the Cooperation Eugene directory.

Where: Eugene Garden Club, 1645 High Street, Eugene.
The doors open at noon on Saturday June 8th and the program begins at
12:30pm. We should be done by 3pm.

Bring finger foods or snacks to share. Donations for the space will be accepted and appreciated.

Study Circle Update

The Cooperation Eugene Study Circle reads books and articles,
podcasts and videos to explore the theory and practice of systems change
for the regenerative economy. We meet monthly, and membership is by
drop-in. Members on the study circle list receive an email, but you must
RSVP so that our meeting place can accommodate all of the respondents.
The discussion will be facilitated – at least in the beginning. Material
addresses a solutions orientation on the new economy, and must have at
least two people who know it before it becomes accepted for study.

Our next meeting is on June 4th at 7pm, and the first book is
Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown. It can be ordered from
Tsunami Books with a 20% discount.

To get on the mailing list, to RSVP or for more information contact studycircle [at] cooperationeugene [dot] org.

On May 7th at 7pm we want to present a framework for the study circle and talk about a selection process for future materials. Location provided to those who RSVP to studycircle@cooperationeugene.org.

Topics for our selections could include:

Theory of systems change

Real world examples of the regenerative economy

Climate change

Food systems

Housing solutions

The Sharing Economy

Localism

Group process

Regarding the selection of materials, we have a coordinating committee that has been working on these issues and anyone who joins us on May 7 is invited to join this group. Come with your list. Hope to see you then!

What is the New Economy? We know what the problems
are. Now let’s get to solutions! Cooperation Eugene invites you to a
discussion at The Eugene Garden Club (1645 High Street) on Friday April
26th from 6:30-8:30pm. (free)

Join us as we explore how our most vexing societal issues, such as
income inequality and environmental degradation, have their roots in the
way our economy works. Then we’ll look at some of the things groups do
as they work to transform our economy from a giant world-devouring
machine into something more cooperative that holds sustainability in its
core along with supporting the needs of humanity and the natural world.null

Our New Resources Directory is Up And Running

We’re working to make it easier to discover what’s going on with the New Economy in Eugene by mapping our assets. Our new directory and project endeavor to connect the dots between related organizatio#ns and resources, to identify gaps and overlaps in the services that are available locally, and to encourage cooperation. We’ve started adding organizations and other resources already, and you can check it out here. If you would like to get involved or if you know of a resource that should be included let us know!